For the first time since the start of the pandemic, those who are called the masters of the world have returned to their annual winter meeting in Davos, in the Swiss Alps. The event made the news again, but not necessarily for the right reasons.
The private jets that come and go during the four days of the World Economic Forum are generating more and more controversy, and rightly so. Leaders who have come from all over to discuss the biggest challenges facing the world, of which the climate crisis is one, do not deprive themselves of their favorite means of transport to take part in the discussions.
Last year, airports serving Davos saw a fourfold increase in pollutant emissions from private jets during the World Economic Forum.1
The organizers of the event have pledged to offset the emissions of participants, but there is still reason to be indignant.
This is what the former American vice-president Al Gore did, who flew into a rage in front of the panel in which he participated. For four minutes, he vehemently denounced the inaction of the leaders of this world to implement the solutions that exist to curb global warming. In front of people who are precisely supposed to change the world for more than 50 years, it could not lack spice. The organization has kept a piece of Al Gore’s milk run in its archives.2
The other subject that raised a lot of eyebrows is the private Sting concert organized in Davos by Microsoft for 50 of its executives. It’s already quite unrelated to the fate of the planet, but the worst thing is that the day after this spectacle, no doubt memorable for those who attended, the American company announced the layoff of 10,000 employees in due to deteriorating economic conditions…
The World Economic Forum should not be reduced to these incongruities. As the founder and great guru of the event, Klaus Schwab, repeats every year, nothing ever replaces face-to-face meetings to get things done.
True, but many attendees come to Davos to advance their own agenda rather than that of humanity. In Quebec, for example, the politicians who go there have never hidden that their objective was to attract investors. This year, the super-minister Pierre Fitzgibbon took part, but he didn’t brag about it publicly.
Not so long ago, going to Davos was quite an event and it was a good idea to be seen there. Stars like Bono and Angelina Jolie paraded there willingly to promote causes close to their hearts. This year, despite the presence of several big names, neither the United States, nor France, nor the United Kingdom have seen fit to delegate their Head of State there. The only leader from a G7 country who has made the trip is German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The event has hardly changed over the decades, but the world has changed. International trade has never fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine are redefining trade ties between countries.
The globalization celebrated in Davos no longer arouses the same interest. In fact, those the World Economic Forum excites the most are the conspirators who are convinced that Klaus Schwab and his guests are preparing to take over the planet.
The World Economic Forum was at its 53e editing. Will he survive his conductor, who is 84 years old? The question certainly arises.